The 'World's Most Beautiful Drive' Is A Scenic, Underrated 2.5-Mile Road Just Outside Of Peoria, Illinois

This might come as news to people living on Grandview Drive in Peoria, Illinois, but their admittedly scenic and tree-lined 2.5-mile stretch of street was once dubbed the "World's Most Beautiful Drive" (or WMBD) by President Theodore Roosevelt, who declared the span from Prospect Road to Route 29 as one of the most beautiful he'd ever seen in 1910 (per Explore Peoria). Disregarding the polite hyperbole of the statement, Grandview Drive is pretty, especially the views from its lookouts that overlook Peoria Lake and carpets of green hills to the east. This is why the road's official title is the "Pleasure Driveway and Park District of Peoria." 

In 1903, Swiss-born engineer Oscar F. Dubuis started his commission along the western banks of Peoria Lake. While the first road took no more than a year to make — without machinery and using only hand tools — Grandview Drive evolved bit by bit from there. Most notably, its road was paved in the 1930s, and the park's observation tower was stripped for war metals in 1942. 

Nowadays, Grandview Drive provides the best kind of scenic, in-town drive you could ask for. With the adjacent Grand View, Terrace, and Prospect parks, the entire short swath of land has stop-offs for admiring the view, several connecting roads that lead to alternate paths, and plenty of time to appreciate what President Roosevelt saw and loved. It's even listed in the official U.S. National Register of Historic Places. 

The "World's Most Beautiful Drive" is quite the grand pronouncement. While it's not considered "the most scenic road trip in America," like the breathtaking Route 89, Grandview Drive has something going for it that epitomizes the kind of beauty you'll find in dense, deciduous forestry: a year-round rotation of landscape-changing seasons and colors. Its autumn foliage is particularly beautiful, akin to the kind of sights you'll find in New England destinations that are considered the best fall getaways in America. But unlike some more treacherous drives and hikes, Grandview Drive's views are easily accessible and not dangerous — provided you keep your eyes on the road as well as the sights.

Once you're done taking a lap along Grandview Drive, downtown Peoria awaits. Peoria is considered one of the best cities to live in America, and the little stretch from East Lake Avenue up North Prospect Road to East Glen Avenue is stocked with a nice selection of cafés, restaurants, and bars, including the indoor-outdoor Pour Bros. Craft Taproom, the cocktail bar The 33 Room, and a tavern-like pub grub eatery, The Publik House. There couldn't be a more perfect way to balance your appreciation of Peoria's outside scenery than to sit and get cozy for a while before hitting the road again.